Is THIS Why You’re Depressed?

There’s certainly a more eloquent way of saying this, but feeling stressed all the time sucks. Plain and simple. And it’s no secret that stress also wreaks havoc on your mood. Now new research sheds light on the connection between chronic stress and clinical mood disorders.

In a recent study on rats, researchers from Yale University discovered that stress directly contributes to changes in the brain associated with depression, specifically affecting the neuritin gene. When the rats were subjected to stressful conditions for three weeks (including food deprivation and isolation), they exhibited depressive behaviors. Brain scans showed that when the rats were stressed, their neuritin levels—which regulate the growth of neurons that allow for healthy brain function—were low.

The rats improved when treated with antidepressants, and scientists were also able to reverse the depression by boosting their neuron protein levels. The findings, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could eventually lead to new treatment methods for depressed humans.

That is, of course, promising—but in the real world, when you're busy balancing tough work deadlines with pressing family commitments, you may not even be conscious of the toll stress is taking. A couple of rough days can easily turn into weeks or months of lost sleep and feeling down in the dumps.

So does that mean you're depressed? Maybe, maybe not. It's tricky to tell exactly where stress and sadness end and depression begins, but there are fixes for both—many of them completely natural—that can help you feel better. If you've been struggling with a low mood that just won't go away, start by taking our quiz, Are You Bummed Out…Or Depressed? Your results can help point to the best remedies for you.